PRIVATE EYES

2 years ago

SCOTUS: No Warrantless Phone Searches

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled 9-0 that police may not search the cellphones of people they arrest without a search warrant. There are, as is always true for searches, exceptions, such as in the case of child abduction or bomb threats. “Modern cellphones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans the privacies of life,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts. “The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought.”